Beef arroba prices lost strength at the end of this week, as ranchers began to increase the supply of cattle. The fear is that the approaching dry period will worsen pasture conditions and force producers to send animals for slaughter.
“Cattle ranchers, apparently more fearful due to the arrival of the drought, ‘appeared’ more in the negotiations,” consultancy Agrifatto said in a note.
In parallel, slaughterhouses made larger purchases and managed to extend their slaughter schedules to 10 days, one day longer than the average for this Thursday (25/4).
As a result, in São Paulo, the price of live cattle fell 0.77% and was quoted at R$ 232.47 per arroba, according to Agrifatto.
The Cepea/B3 cattle indicator closed with a small increase of 0.24%, to R$ 233.15 per arroba.
At B3, futures contracts fell across the board. The maturity date for May/24 fell 0.47% to R$ 231.90 per arroba. The April/24 contract fell 0.36% to R$232.15 per arroba.
“Climate forecasts for the next 15 days indicate a reduction in the volume of rain in the central region of the country, which could cause cattle retained weeks ago to appear on the market. And this could be a justification for the devaluation that contracts futures have had in recent days”, added Agrifatto.
